In November, a ceilidh against the Amazon cable will take place at Long Strand near Owenahincha. Moze Jacobs explains why locals are putting on their dancing shoes to take action.
On 20 April 2026, Cork County Council granted planning permission to Amazon Web Services to construct a landing station in Lisavaird for a 6,300km underwater cable, which will come ashore at Owenahincha Beach before travelling inland to Lisavaird. Originally, the cable was to make landfall in Castlefreke Bay, part of a Special Area of Conservation, but this sensitive area was avoided following a public discussion early last year. Only two Lisavaird residents lodged an appeal with An Coimisiún Pleanála, which was dismissed. Work on the cable landing station is already underway. It will likely transfer the incoming tsunamis of information to Amazon data centres in Dublin. Subsea cables and data centres are interdependent systems that go together hand in glove.
Fastnet is what Amazon calls its private transatlantic fibre-optic subsea cable system. Perhaps to honour the lighthouse that marks the southernmost point of Ireland. Or, simply, because of the staggering speed of the data it will be transporting: 320 terabits per second: 12 zeroes, 320 trillion bits. Enough to transfer 12.5 million HD films per second. Colossal and exponential. No wonder the digital conversation around the mushrooming online infrastructure uses words like massive, explosive, power-hungry, ultra-powerful, hyperscale. The latter is not an exaggeration. AI devours data. It needs constant training; it is programmed to “learn from experience”. Like a human baby who has just been born (to quote AI).
Precisely this gargantuan appetite for data creates huge problems in ‘the real world’. Ireland is the largest data centre hub in Europe (107 and counting). It also has the highest electricity prices in the EU (whereas large-scale industrial data centres pay under half the standard household rate). 97 per cent of data centres are based in Dublin where they cause noise and air pollution, water scarcity, ample carbon emissions and hamper the construction of new housing. And there are wider concerns across Ireland such as unemployment, as AI assistants increasingly replace “human employees”. Not surprisingly, data centre protests are snowballing while some planning applications have been overturned, notably in Waterford, Mayo, Kildare.
As yet, this is nothing compared to the US where almost 500 actions have been taken to freeze, pause, or reject the building of data centres and cable stations in 48 states. Including Maryland, where Amazon is trying to get permission to connect the other “end” of its Fastnet cable to a tiny hut in Ocean City. Here, residents and environmental groups are protesting aggressively. Some speak of a “deal with the devil”. After all, the multinational has been mired in controversy since 2012. To do with tax avoidance, workers’ rights and wages, digital privacy, conflict minerals, palm oil sourcing, and military links such as its Project Nimbus, which is reputed to provide the digital backbone for Israel’s apartheid regime and its war on Gaza. As a result, the timeline of Amazon’s Fastnet project (due to be operational in 2028) is plagued by uncertainty. In Ireland, it still has to obtain formal consent, in view of maritime and coastal ecological protection, for installing its maritime infrastructure, as well as planning permission for flexibilities in its design. Citizens, community groups, and local businesses can submit written responses to An Coimisiún Pleanála until mid-November.
On November 7, Friends of the Earth organise a ‘Day of Action on Data Centres’ in Dublin, part of a Europe-wide action to ‘Stop Dirty Data Centres’. On the same day, Long Strand (near Owenahincha) will see a very local and joyful action: A ceilidh against the Amazon cable, organised by Tara Brandel, a well-known professional choreographer/dancer, born and brought up in Ballydehob. “I call it ‘Dancing at the Crossroads’ as this is a pivotal time. Will we choose to go down the big tech, multinational route? Or connect for real in our own communities? Everyone is invited to join! No previous experience needed. There’ll be musicians and somebody to lead the ceilidh. It’s a good way to connect with others, celebrate Irish culture. And I also want to make people feel that if there is enough pushback, there may be change. Let’s keep our connection to the natural world. We’re part of biodiversity, of the ecosystems. I am particularly disgusted that Amazon uses the name Fastnet. The granite islet was called the ‘Rock of Tears’ since the Vikings. There are traditional songs in Irish about it. And as a child, growing up in Cappaghglass, the FastNet Lighthouse was like a lodestone to me.” She is very critical of data centres. “They use vast amounts of resources and we’re paying for it. November 7 will be an apt day to raise awareness.”
It will also be the day when her dance company, Croí Glan will celebrate its 20th anniversary. “It’s an integrated company, so half the professional dancers have a disability, physical or otherwise, such as neurodivergence. I consider all of this to be a strength (rather than a weakness) that enhances society. We bring other things to the table.”
‘The Act of Existing’, a contemporary dance duet with interactive elements, choreographed by Philip Connaughton, will perform at the West Cork Arts Centre on November 7 at 8pm.
A global weekend of action, ‘Down with Data Centres’ takes place on January 24, 2027.
